Regardless of changes in the federal law, a charge of crack or powder cocaine. The legislation also eliminates the mandatory minimum for simple possession of crack cocaine. The fair sentencing act amends existing laws by increasing the amounts of crack that trigger these penalties, from five grams to 28 grams for fiveyear minimum sentences and from 50 grams to 280 grams for tenyear minimum sentences. Cracking the racial disparity for cocaine sentencing. While they are both different chemical forms of cocaine, they differ in how they are made, how they are abused, their cost, dangers, effects, and more. After president obama signed off on new legislation to reduce the sentencing disparity between people caught with crack cocaine and those caught with powder cocaine, the minnesota democrat spoke to huffpost about what it all means. Origins of federal cocaine sentencing policy crack cocaine became prevalent in the 1980s and received extensive media attention, due in part to its exponential growth in the drug market. Congress addressed a historic wrong on wednesday afternoon, replacing it instead with a slightly lesser wrong, when the house voted to reduce the disparity in the sentencing of people caught with crack cocaine versus powder cocaine. A comprehensive examination of the 100to1 crack versus powder cocaine sentencing disparity under which distribution of just 5 grams of crack carries a. It was a big mistake when it was made, biden said during a speech in january, referring to the measure that created broad sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine. The drugsentencing bill attracted little notice in washington, compared. The 1986 anti drug abuse act mandated a minimum sentence of five years without parole for possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine while it mandated the same penalty for possession of 500 grams of powder cocaine a 100 to 1 disparity.
In the mid 80s, congress passed the antidrug abuse act of 1986. A 2010 federal law rectified some, though not all, of the sentencing disparities. Naacp calls for passage of legislation to end racial. Senate move to close crackpowder cocaine jail disparity. The quantity distinction has also resulted in a massive sentencing disparity by race, with african americans receiving longer sentences than the mostly white and. Crack users were at a higher risk than powder cocaine users for reporting multiple recent arrests or. Much of the discrepancy at the federal level is the result of differences in the federal sentencing of drug offenses involving crack and powder cocaine. With a set of mandatory minimum sentencing laws passed in 1986, congress for the first time distinguished between crack and powder cocaine. Download page term paper on disparity in sentencing for crack vs. The twoway the senate move to close the disparity between mandatory sentences for powder and crack cocaine was lauded by. Congress acts to reduce crackpowder cocaine sentencing. Spohn 20 examined racial disparities in sentences from drugtrafficking cases in three us district courts and found that, compared to white. At the time, possession of crack cocaine resulted in penalties 100 times higher than possession of an equal amount of the powdered form. Cracking the racial disparity for cocaine sentencing center on.
Similarly, those carrying ten grams of crack cocaine faced a tenyear. State legislature considers bill to address racial. The us house of representatives wednesday approved a bill, sb 1789, that addresses one of the most glaring injustices of the american drug war. A 2015 study published in the journal drug and alcohol dependence examined the socioeconomic disparities among powder cocaine users and crack users. Opposition to the crack cocaine sentencing disparity and mandatory minimum sentences has been voiced by people as diverse as former supreme court chief justice william rehnquist, the u. In 2010, congress passed the fair sentencing act fsa, which reduced the sentencing disparity between offenses for crack and powder cocaine from 100. Federal crack cocaine sentencing the sentencing project. Some 2020 democratic candidate argue that the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, which now sits at 18to1. Ab 2274 dymally, if passed, will make equal the punishment for possession of cocaine powder for sale and the same crime involving.
When racial disparity in sentencing occurs in some contexts, but not others, it is called. There is also, however, some evidence that race does not play a large part in sentencing disparity where crack vs. Crack and cocaine powder sentencing disparities essay. Michael coyle is a research associate with the sentencing project.
Powder cocaine after a decade of contentious debate regarding the federal sentencing disparities between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, a number of significant initiatives to reform current policy have recently emerged. Possession of heroin or powdered cocaine, without intent to sell, is a. Sentencing commission, the national association of criminal. Proposals to eliminate sentencing disparities between. Assistant majority leader dick durbin dil introduced the fair sentencing act of 2009, a narrowlytailored bill that would eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine and increase penalties for the worst offenders. Senator dick durbin, the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine has contributed to the imprisonment of african americans at six times the rate of whites and to the united states position as the worlds leader in incarcerations. Obama needs to fix the crack cocaine sentencing gap.
Until 2010, this sentencing disparity was 100 to 1, which means that while just 5 grams of crack would carry a 5year mandatory minimum, it would take 500 grams of cocaine to trigger the same 5year sentence. The disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentencing has been the most notorious example of profound racial bias baked into our superficially neutral criminal laws. Senate vote reduces crack powder cocaine disparity by kamika dunlap on march 22, 2010 10. Powder cocaine use is more evenly spread among ethnic backgrounds, and more white americans have tried powder cocaine than black americans. Crack is cheaper, so its found in low income communities more than pure powder cocaine. So, the federal law still imposes a different and harsher sentence for crack cocaine possession than it does for powder cocaine possession, but the disparity is not nearly as great as under the 1986 act.
Sacramentoa bill to address the disparity in sentencing for crack cocaine and powder cocaine will be heard in the assembly committee on public safety, tuesday, march 30, at 9. The figures for the 6,020 powder cocaine cases are far less skewed. There are notable racial and ethnic disparities in cocaine use with whites more likely to report lifetime cocaine use i. Crack and cocaine powder sentencing disparities essay sample. Naacp calls for passage of legislation to end racial disparities in cocaine sentencing. Attempts to change the disparity edit legal challenges edit. Racial impact of crack sentencing government data demonstrate that drug use rates are similar among all racial and ethnic groups. The sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine attn. The bill does not eliminate the disparity, but dramatically reduces it. The 1986 law created a 100 to 1 disparity between the sentencing guidelines for crack and powder cocaine. President obama signed a new law tuesday that closes a decadesold gap in federal sentencing that led to much stiffer penalties for crack cocaine cases than ones involving powder cocaine.
This legislation enacted an astounding 100to1 disparity in crack vs. Crackpowder disparity testimony of wade henderson the. The adaa created a 100toone ratio between the quantity of crack versus powder cocaine needed to trigger mandatory minimum sentencing. Sentencing reform measures passed by around half the states in the past decade, which have resulted in an absolute decline in state prison populations, have also proven. Crack cocaine and powder cocaine are sometimes referred to in research and other outlets simply as cocaine, but there is a big difference between the two. The passage of the fair sentencing act in 2010, which reduced, but did not eliminate, sentencing disparities between federal crack and powder cocaine offenders is one example of the emerging reformist consensus. Congress is considering a bill to change drug laws that punish crack cocaine violations more severely than those for powder cocaine. A comprehensive examination of the 100to1 crack versus powder cocaine sentencing disparity under which distribution of just 5 grams of crack carries a minimum 5year federal prisonsentence, while distribution of 500 grams of powder cocaine carries the same 5year mandatory minimum sentence. The difference between powder cocaine and crack cocaine. Fair sentencing act american civil liberties union. New drug law narrows crack, powder cocaine sentencing gap. Crack cocaine is simply made by taking powder cocaine and cooking it with baking soda and water until it forms a hard rocky substance. How an early biden crime bill created the sentencing.
This disparity between crack and powder cocaine was driven by fear, instead of by research, of the intensity and perceived dangers of crack cocaine. Keith ellison spent 16 years as a trial lawyer dealing with hundreds of cases involving cocaine arrests. The new law significantly reduces the cocaine sentencing quantity disparity from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1 by raising the quantity of crack cocaine necessary to trigger the five and tenyear mandatory minimum sentences first set in 1986. The result is that while a conviction for the sale of 500 grams of powder cocaine triggers a 5year mandatory sentence, only 5 grams of crack cocaine are required to trigger the same 5year mandatory sentence.
These disparities were enacted into law through the antidrug abuse act of 1986 as part of a wave of raciallytinged media hysteria. Senate move to close crackpowder cocaine jail disparity lauded by aba. The us sentencing commission provided this analogy in 1997 to support equalizing penalties for crack and powder cocaine. Crackpowder sentencing disparity reduced by congress. The hearing will take place at the state capitol, rm. Data show racial disparity in crack sentencing us news. There are several bills pending in the house that would eliminate this disparity. What is the chemical difference between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. High court eases crack sentence guidelines cbs news. At the time, it was assumed that crack cocaine was more dangerous.
1283 1135 991 1155 812 1401 619 57 1369 1409 1223 421 1251 454 83 287 1387 1104 638 1 296 1398 659 361 1182 867 1521 209 1350 382 119 341 1425 1141 1178 199 1437 1343 511 1226 764 439 758 218 644